The Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF) is a charitable organization founded by Nelson Mandela, based in South Africa. Its mission is to help individuals from birth to age 22, particularly orphans of the AIDS crisis.

In 1995, Mandela stopped to talk to street children in Cape Town, and was inspired to found organization. He remarked:

"We were driving back to the Presidency in Cape Town one cold winter's evening, when I saw a group of street children and stopped to talk to them." "The children asked me why I love them. This astounded me, and I asked them why they asked this, and they said that because every time I get money from overseas, I share it with them."

Upon founding the organization, he pledged to donate one third of his salary to the fund, and began fundraising.

Although the organization continues to assist young homeless people and those living in poverty, the fund now focuses on the underprivileged, orphans of the AIDS crisis, those affected by HIV and AIDS, and "child-headed households" in South Africa.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918) is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected President, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela went on to serve 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to the establishment of democracy in 1994. As President, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa.

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father). Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades.